I'm not sure if this is even worth a thread, but I'm dithering on which car polish to buy next. You see about 15 years ago I had a job lot of Turtle Wax polish and I've been slowly, about 4 times a year working my way through it. Now that its all but finished I'd be glad of any recomendations forum members may have.
I spotted a polish whilst flicking through TV channels the other week "Greased Lightning" It looked good, but at £20 it seemed a bit on the expensive side..
Over to you guys...
Cheers,
Chris
car polish any recommedations?
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car polish any recommedations?
Chris
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Re: car polish any recommedations?
Meguiars Gold Class Wax. If you're really serious about a decent polish use a clay bar first, its hard work but well worth the effort.
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Re: car polish any recommedations?
Get a Clay Bar - just get one!
I found a Bilt Hammer Clay Bar in the garage that I'd bought ages ago but just not used. Never actually used a Clay Bar before so was quite a novelty using it...
The C4 was looking rather dirty and so gave it a good wash first in the usual manner and looked good. Filled a spray bottle up with plain tap water and wetted the clay bar and working area. Moving the bar over this area (in any direction) you can actually feel it lifting all of the very small pieces of grime, tar spots etc leaving it amazingly smooth ready for a good wax.
I can highly recommend such a product and the colour of the clay bar after doing the whole car was amazing. Should have taken a picture really...
Bizarrely, the worst area were the doors...
I liked the Bilt Hammer Clay Bar as you just have to use plain tap water in the spray bottle, as opposed to some "detailing" spray you have to use on others...
http://www.bilthamber.com/clay-bars/auto-clay-soft" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I found a Bilt Hammer Clay Bar in the garage that I'd bought ages ago but just not used. Never actually used a Clay Bar before so was quite a novelty using it...
The C4 was looking rather dirty and so gave it a good wash first in the usual manner and looked good. Filled a spray bottle up with plain tap water and wetted the clay bar and working area. Moving the bar over this area (in any direction) you can actually feel it lifting all of the very small pieces of grime, tar spots etc leaving it amazingly smooth ready for a good wax.
I can highly recommend such a product and the colour of the clay bar after doing the whole car was amazing. Should have taken a picture really...
Bizarrely, the worst area were the doors...
I liked the Bilt Hammer Clay Bar as you just have to use plain tap water in the spray bottle, as opposed to some "detailing" spray you have to use on others...
http://www.bilthamber.com/clay-bars/auto-clay-soft" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Franklin
Re: car polish any recommedations?
greased lightning is a waterless car wash it is good but very expensive. i havn,t wet washed my car for 3 years i use a waterless car wash. fantastic finish loads of carnuba wax in it like a wet finish when done can do the whole car in 20 mins. and i have never scratched the car useing it no matter how dirty the car was to start with. i buy from ebay but be carefull there is loads of bad ones on there some no more than soapy water. reason is a live in a flat and nearest i can get my car is 300 yards. i have tried clay bar spent a day doing it no better finish but hard work .
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Re: car polish any recommedations?
Is it a polish or a wax/sealant you require ? A good polish is AutoGlym super resin which polishes and will leave some protection on but nothing fantastic , as a sealant/wax (no polishing ability) finishkare fk1000p takes some beating for the money ( big tin ) , try this link http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .Their forum is pretty good too for help and advice .
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Re: car polish any recommedations?
thr greased lightening will more than likely be Loaded with silicone oils, which will be why it doesnt look like its scratchign the surface, most of the waterless car cleaning solutions use the same formula, not something you'll actually find anyone that Knows what there doing around cars will recommend!
the turtle wax polish is okay, its a generic polish thats bottled for many companies (turtlewax, carplan, comma, tesco, asda etc), it does an okay job but is another that has a large contingent of silicone based oils in, these basically fillin the blemeishes on the surface and make it appear like they have gone, give it a week/10 days or so of weather and it'll start wearing off, and you'll end up back where you started,
a proper clean shouldnt take that long, typically half a day, should consists of a Good wash, A clay (once yearly only required unless your a milage driver on trunk roads), a polish, sealant and topped with a wax,
claying the car doesnt need to take long either, a Lot of misguided information out there on claying, essentially it started off in the truck and bus side, High milage vehicles that were trunk road users, the fronts would turn a beigey brown colour through the fall out from the road, (hence why some bus companies went for a creamy beige coilour!!) but the clayign side has come across tot he car side, the bilt hamber clay is good, and does a great job, doesnt need a specific lube either, But, any clay bar will work with a watered down mix of shampoo in a spray bottle, the quick detailers that are sold for it are just a light liquid shampoo/polish mix, a standard claybar should be cut into 4 to 5 sections, popped into a pot of Warm water before using to make plyable, and turned over on itself frequently when in use, you'll feel the contaminents coming off the paintwork as your claying, Loads of clays to choose from, take your pick really! typically a tenner,
polish wise, a standard polish that 80% of the guys in the trade that will turn to is Autoglym Super resin polish, it has a Solvent cutting agent in it allowing it to remoive light oxidisation, and also contains a level of silicone oil to mask over minor blemishes, it works well, is attainable by anyone from shops ranging from supermarkets, motor factors through to specific car cleaning stores, and its also resonably priced, autoglym also have a polish for deeper colours, Ultra deep shine, it does work very well on dark colours but does contain a little more silicone oil than SRP and can be a harder to remove, but does give Very good results!
remeber though, use it in Thin coats, too often people will complain about it being a Dusty polish, the simple reply to it is that its being used Too thickly, a thick layer makes No difference to the level of protection than a thin one!!
Poorboys offer some very good polishes that are very resonably priced, some with some with out filling agents, Always easy on and easy off, i used them quite a lot as a good polish that would Clean off the surface and leave it filler free! (can be quite a shock if youve been using high filler quantitiy polishes!) they also use a two stage system for polishes, plain and blue, plain is for lighter colour cars, blue is for Darker colours, Great polishes, do exactly what they say they doo!
a good sealant to use over the top of the polish, i personally use Four star ultimate paint sealer, its a bit tricky to get now, autoglym Extra gloss protection works well, but can be stubburn to remove, (the four star comes off with the lightest of buffs wether its been on 10 minutes or ten hours!!) Poorboys also offer a very good sealant, another easy on and Easy off,
a coat of sealant Over the polish should give you approximately 6 weeks of protection,
a Wax coat over the top really makes the difference, i strongly recommend Collinite, if youve a light colour car then 476s, a dark car 915 Marque De Elegance, a single coat of wax over the previous 2 layers will give you approx 8 months protection! a second coat can give a good 11 months!! the wax is also cheap for the time it will last you!! a very thin coat on a wipe on wipe off basis over a panel is all you need, leave 24hrs between coats ideally if planning a second coat, the 476s has a slightly lower carnauba ratign than the 915mde, and thus works better on lighter colours, the 915 mde has a 51% carnauba content and really makes dark colours Pop and gives a lovely Wet look to them,
the Full job doesnt need to be done that often, i'd recommend twice a year for the average user, and just washed regularly inbetween, due to the protection levels washing becomes a lot easier!!! unless you really want to do it more often!! typically takes half a day to do,
our Silver Xantia estate weve owned for just over a year now, in the time weve had it i gave it a Full on clean, machine polished it and then polish, sealed, wax'd Last july, (as i do any car we own when we get it) since then its been washed half a dozen times tops and the water Still beads on the surface, nothing like when it was freshly done mind, has doen just over 6k miles in that time so not high miles by any standards, but one good prep job and its still protecting!
the one thing to bear in mind with polishes though, a general polish in its bottle will have a shelf life or around 18 months, much after this it'll start seperating and stop performing quite so well, (ive a small decanted pot of Super resin polish in the shed thats completely seperated since my trade days, Two distinctive liquids in the pot!! no amount of shaking can get it to remix!) mostly down tot he levels of filling oils and solvents used in the polishes, worth remembering when looking for kit, ive Loads that are sat in a box in the shed that are passed usefullness, lol! used to be a bit of a cleaning kit tart, boxed of polishes, sealants, pots of wax, Boxes and boxes of cloth's etc.
the turtle wax polish is okay, its a generic polish thats bottled for many companies (turtlewax, carplan, comma, tesco, asda etc), it does an okay job but is another that has a large contingent of silicone based oils in, these basically fillin the blemeishes on the surface and make it appear like they have gone, give it a week/10 days or so of weather and it'll start wearing off, and you'll end up back where you started,
a proper clean shouldnt take that long, typically half a day, should consists of a Good wash, A clay (once yearly only required unless your a milage driver on trunk roads), a polish, sealant and topped with a wax,
claying the car doesnt need to take long either, a Lot of misguided information out there on claying, essentially it started off in the truck and bus side, High milage vehicles that were trunk road users, the fronts would turn a beigey brown colour through the fall out from the road, (hence why some bus companies went for a creamy beige coilour!!) but the clayign side has come across tot he car side, the bilt hamber clay is good, and does a great job, doesnt need a specific lube either, But, any clay bar will work with a watered down mix of shampoo in a spray bottle, the quick detailers that are sold for it are just a light liquid shampoo/polish mix, a standard claybar should be cut into 4 to 5 sections, popped into a pot of Warm water before using to make plyable, and turned over on itself frequently when in use, you'll feel the contaminents coming off the paintwork as your claying, Loads of clays to choose from, take your pick really! typically a tenner,
polish wise, a standard polish that 80% of the guys in the trade that will turn to is Autoglym Super resin polish, it has a Solvent cutting agent in it allowing it to remoive light oxidisation, and also contains a level of silicone oil to mask over minor blemishes, it works well, is attainable by anyone from shops ranging from supermarkets, motor factors through to specific car cleaning stores, and its also resonably priced, autoglym also have a polish for deeper colours, Ultra deep shine, it does work very well on dark colours but does contain a little more silicone oil than SRP and can be a harder to remove, but does give Very good results!
remeber though, use it in Thin coats, too often people will complain about it being a Dusty polish, the simple reply to it is that its being used Too thickly, a thick layer makes No difference to the level of protection than a thin one!!
Poorboys offer some very good polishes that are very resonably priced, some with some with out filling agents, Always easy on and easy off, i used them quite a lot as a good polish that would Clean off the surface and leave it filler free! (can be quite a shock if youve been using high filler quantitiy polishes!) they also use a two stage system for polishes, plain and blue, plain is for lighter colour cars, blue is for Darker colours, Great polishes, do exactly what they say they doo!
a good sealant to use over the top of the polish, i personally use Four star ultimate paint sealer, its a bit tricky to get now, autoglym Extra gloss protection works well, but can be stubburn to remove, (the four star comes off with the lightest of buffs wether its been on 10 minutes or ten hours!!) Poorboys also offer a very good sealant, another easy on and Easy off,
a coat of sealant Over the polish should give you approximately 6 weeks of protection,
a Wax coat over the top really makes the difference, i strongly recommend Collinite, if youve a light colour car then 476s, a dark car 915 Marque De Elegance, a single coat of wax over the previous 2 layers will give you approx 8 months protection! a second coat can give a good 11 months!! the wax is also cheap for the time it will last you!! a very thin coat on a wipe on wipe off basis over a panel is all you need, leave 24hrs between coats ideally if planning a second coat, the 476s has a slightly lower carnauba ratign than the 915mde, and thus works better on lighter colours, the 915 mde has a 51% carnauba content and really makes dark colours Pop and gives a lovely Wet look to them,
the Full job doesnt need to be done that often, i'd recommend twice a year for the average user, and just washed regularly inbetween, due to the protection levels washing becomes a lot easier!!! unless you really want to do it more often!! typically takes half a day to do,
our Silver Xantia estate weve owned for just over a year now, in the time weve had it i gave it a Full on clean, machine polished it and then polish, sealed, wax'd Last july, (as i do any car we own when we get it) since then its been washed half a dozen times tops and the water Still beads on the surface, nothing like when it was freshly done mind, has doen just over 6k miles in that time so not high miles by any standards, but one good prep job and its still protecting!
the one thing to bear in mind with polishes though, a general polish in its bottle will have a shelf life or around 18 months, much after this it'll start seperating and stop performing quite so well, (ive a small decanted pot of Super resin polish in the shed thats completely seperated since my trade days, Two distinctive liquids in the pot!! no amount of shaking can get it to remix!) mostly down tot he levels of filling oils and solvents used in the polishes, worth remembering when looking for kit, ive Loads that are sat in a box in the shed that are passed usefullness, lol! used to be a bit of a cleaning kit tart, boxed of polishes, sealants, pots of wax, Boxes and boxes of cloth's etc.
After All, I am the Cornish one!
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'58 partner teepee outdoor
'58 C2 Code
'58 partner teepee outdoor
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'99 Xantia 110 bhp Hdi SX Estate 310K SORN "V"
'98 Xantia 1.9TD SX Estate 150K Sold "T" - x 47
Re: car polish any recommedations?
Wow! Thanks guys, I had no idea that it could be that in depth Timmo. I've got a silver estate as well so I think I'll be doing a clay, polish and seal very soon.
Thanks for your recommendations.
Chris
Thanks for your recommendations.
Chris
Chris
Tesla Model 3 LR DM AWD Blue White
'00 Xant 110HdiSX Est 83K "W"
'99 Xant 110HdiSX Est 320K "V"
'98 Xant 1.9TDSX Est 150K "T"
'97 Xant 1.9TD 20k Est
'94 Fiat TipoTd 40K
'85 BMW K100RT 330K Garaged 26yrs '80 Honda CB250 twin Superdream
Tesla Model 3 LR DM AWD Blue White
'00 Xant 110HdiSX Est 83K "W"
'99 Xant 110HdiSX Est 320K "V"
'98 Xant 1.9TDSX Est 150K "T"
'97 Xant 1.9TD 20k Est
'94 Fiat TipoTd 40K
'85 BMW K100RT 330K Garaged 26yrs '80 Honda CB250 twin Superdream
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Re: car polish any recommedations?
Car polish recommendation?
Simple...
Vince
Simple...
Vince
Jim
Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
Re: car polish any recommedations?
Bit late but I am also a Poorboys fan, thier natty wax etc is awesome.
I also am a fan of clay bars, I use Meguirs & on one of my Williams it ended up looking like a showroom car..I could not believe it.
Jaine
I also am a fan of clay bars, I use Meguirs & on one of my Williams it ended up looking like a showroom car..I could not believe it.
Jaine
If I throw a stick, will you leave?.